Sandalwood - help needed

Over the weekend, Nordstrom had a fragrance festival here in Portland....being a frequent visitor the SA's know that I am addicted ....so one of the kind SA's there gave me half a bottle of " The art of Shaving- Sandalwood".

I bathed my self in that precious liquid today...and man does it feel good to finally see a classic -true to sandalwood interpretation...a linear , close to the skin fragrance, this one does not morph much on me...I love this fragrance..

Besides the expensive Profumum's " Santalum"- the art of shaving sandalwood is the one that i really liked...

now the question ...Basenote members who love sandalwood....could you please suggest me a pure sandalwood fragrance..?? Sandalwood presented in its truest form...no amalgamation - just the potent stuff

I am a sucker for sandalwood and incense notes...so I want to know what frags are out there for my greedy nose

Niche / non-niche...i really do no mind it....as long as the juice is sandalwood - I' am happy.

Re: Sandalwood - help needed

I find Geo. F. Trumper's Sandalwood to be a very creamy and somewhat sweet sandalwood.
My taste is much more to a dry, austere rendition.
Hard to find, but worth the search, is Santal by Melvita in their Solyflore (single-flower/note) line. This is dry, woody, a real pure rendition. This is a go-to scent any time I want a shot of pure vigor. I never get tired of it.

Re: Sandalwood - help needed

Trumper sandalwood is very good and I think it contains a tiny pinch of the real thing but it is like an extrapolation of the wood, aspects of the santal stretched in all directions. It is very complex and while based around the wood, it contains many notes.
Creed Bois de Santal is wonderful, smells of history starts with a beautiful sour lemon and aldehydes but these days also contains no more than a pinch of the real thing.
Villoresi Sandalo is quite nice too IMO but has a similar intense herbal accord to his vetiver. Either you love it or you hate it.

Real indian sandalwood oil is very expensive these days and is only used in very small quantities if at all. The Australian stuff smells fantastic until you smell it next to the Indian, this is used more frequently. There are a number of synthetics too; most of these tend to emphasise one aspect of the complex smell of the wood - (sour, woody, creamy etc) and are quite effective in a blend. I think there may be a blend of synthetics which comes quite close to the real smell these days too...but I'm not sure

Last edited by hirch_duckfinder; 21st October 2008 at 07:57 PM.

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Re: Sandalwood - help needed

I love that Caswell Massey Sandalwood soap.

LV Sandalo too strong? What must you think of all the other LV fragrances. I find the Sandalo to be pretty weak actually and wish they'd do a concentrated version, cause I love the scent if only I could smell it more. . .

Re: Sandalwood - help needed

I tend to like sandalwood oils - dragonflyblue.com's sandalwood is my favorite by far and very reasonably priced to take a chance on, madini santal blanc is nice as well, BBW aromatherapy line has a sandalwood rose that has a bit of incense and patchouli.

Molinard Bois Precieux is a great scent, sandalwood dominant, but doesn't have good lasting power, at least not on me, but I still love it.

Re: Sandalwood - help needed

Originally Posted by smellzapoppin

I love that Caswell Massey Sandalwood soap.

LV Sandalo too strong? What must you think of all the other LV fragrances. I find the Sandalo to be pretty weak actually and wish they'd do a concentrated version, cause I love the scent if only I could smell it more. . .

There's something odd about LV Sandolo. The first time I tried it four or five years back, I had one spray on my wrist and it was ultra potent. One guy from 10 feet away asked me how come I wearing a strong women's scent.

But, I revisited it a few times last year, and it was nothing like the powerhouse I'd previously tried.
Renato

Re: Sandalwood - help needed

As far as I'm concerned, after the eucolyptus note has worn off, the Art of Shaving Sandalwood Essential Oil is the purest sandalwood scent I've ever come across, so you already have what you're seeking.

The only way to get any purer would be to buy bottles of the essential oil itself and figure out some way of applying it in a non messy fashion.
Renato

Re: Sandalwood - help needed

1. do yourself a favor and buy some pure mysore sandalwood oil. I don't know who would be a reliable seller in the US, fake sandalwood abounds and non-mysore is frequently falsely sold as such. But what you need is: santalum album. It knocks the socks off AOS, believe me. 5ml of pure oil from a trustworthy source run at roughly 30 Euros here, anything cheaper than that is likely Australian, Caledonian or synthetic sandalwood. Profumo.it is a good source for a diluted oil, I've smelled it and it is definitely the real thing.
2. A very nice one if you like incense as well as sandalwood would be Sandalo Inspiritu by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz.
3. I personally like Villoresi Sandalo very very much. I find the sandalwood note to be very present & persistent, but it is blended - beautifully - with rosewood and other components. Floris Sandalwood is good, more directly sandalwood - or rather an OK imitation, but far from the real thing. Same applies to newer editions of Creed's Santal Imperial. The older one's clearly had a santalum album base, the one I have (2005) just as clearly does not. Creed's Bois de Santal, only available in the 8oz., is a good deal better - but again, don't expect any perfume these days to have very high concentrations of Mysore sandalwood. I have not tried Profumum Santalum yet, unfortunately. Someone here recently highly recommended I Profumi di Firenzes Mysore sandalwood perfume. I can't vouch for it and have found what I tried of this line to be less than convincing, but perhaps this one is a sleeper. Their "Sandalo Indiano" is crap, well at least it ain't good Indian sandalwood.
4. Beware. This sandalwood thing can turn into an obsession within your perfume obsession